Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Elliott has added two new words to his growing vocabulary: cheese and ow. Sometimes he calls his shoes "cheese," but he sure knows what it means when he's ready for a snack. He started experimenting with hitting us with objects and quickly learned to say "ow." He doesn't hit hard and we're working on discouraging any hitting. Elliott had my brush in his hand this morning and tapped my arm with it, then said "ow." So we've just got to reinforce that "ow" isn't good.

I took a three-day vacation all by myself, for the first time since Elliott was born, this weekend. I went to New Orleans to see two of my very good friends (and our neighbors) get hitched. We all went to NOLA a couple years ago for the bride's 30th birthday and when she got engaged, we jokingly suggested that they have the wedding there so we could all go back again. Fast forward one year and we did just that. I flew in on the red eye Friday night with three other friends and we landed around 5:00 a.m. There wasn't much to do besides eat, so we made our first stop at Cafe du Monde for beignets and coffee, then to another equally revered bakery for savory croissants and more coffee, and finally to Jimmy J's for breakfast sandwiches and the best bloody Marys in NOLA. Home base was the home we rented in the French Quarter on our first trip -- on block off Bourbon and formerly owned by Delta Burke of Designing Women and her husband Gerald MacRaney of Major Dad and House of Cards. Here are some pictures of Delta, as we affectionately refer to the house at 1012 Royal Street:

From top left: The most handsome sailor dog ever to grace an embroidered throw pillow; Delta's formal living room; Delta's subtle turkey feather decor; best wishes from Major Dad.

It was very hot and very humid, but we adjusted and spent Saturday wandering around, eating and shopping. We took the bus over to the Garden District for sandwiches at Stein's and tried to go back to the bar we were in when we learned of Whitney Houston's passing, but it was full of cyclists after some sort of New Orleans critical mass event. We went back to our hotels and rented houses in the Quarter and re-grouped for a welcome reception at Maison Bourbon, next door to Preservation Hall, and with an excellent view of the NOLA Pride Parade down Bourbon. The parade was great, but nothing compares to San Francisco's Pride celebrations. We spent the rest of the night at a bar in the Marigny with great live music and sent the bride and groom off in a pedicab to get their wedding beauty rest. The wedding was on Sunday and for an hour before the ceremony, it poured. Like monsoon buckets with thunder and lighting and really threatening clouds. We were all a bit damp when we showed up at the venue, Race & Religious, but it soon cleared up and we had a great wedding. The ceremony was quick, the bride and groom were beautiful and I cried. The food was traditional Southern fare and there were French 75 and Manhattan cocktails. There were to people hand-rolling cigars for us and a bourbon tasting. And there were games! Ladder golf, beer pong and corn hole. They even had a brass band and we danced and had a mini second line around the block.

The gorgeous venue, Race and Religious, and the happy couple, Brian and Emily (affectionately referred to as "Bremily").

Monday morning we did a little more shopping and then a bunch of us took a horse carriage tour of the French Quarter and St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, which was probably my favorite part of the trip (besides the wedding). Here are some pictures from the cemetery:

Nicolas Cage's future final resting place and threatening clouds.

Tomb of Marie Laveau, voodoo queen of New Orleans and the Italian Mutual Benevolent tomb (which you may recognize from Easy Rider).

The monsoon came back as we were getting ready to leave and our plane from Houston was unable to land, so it went back to Houston to refuel. We boarded about four hours after we were supposed to take off and landed at SFO around midnight. Lane and Elliott picked me up and we all went home and snuggled and looked at the presents I brought home.